Social issues dominate in a slate of American premieres at Sundance...
From 11A
It’s the kind of earnest, socially conscious tale that carries its emotions on its sleeve to the occasional detriment of its clarity. In its attempt to conjure feelings of confusion and unease during its mid-film sequence, “Master” occasionally feels more muddled than it should be. That feeling of being muddled informs the resolution, which feels a bit too muted to work within the fabric of this world, where the supernatural and the realistic don’t quite work together. But it’s all threaded by Regina Hall at its centre, and it’s to its credit that in its final moments “Master” allows her tired realisations ground the conclusion in something that feels marginally cathartic, if unfinished.
Of this smattering of socially conscious films, the best of the lot is “Emergency,” which is the only film of this quartet that feels as keyed into its social intentions and its work as a film. Like a number of Sundance releases this year, “Emergency” is a feature-length adaptation of a shortfilm following a night of terror as three male college students (two Black, one Hispanic) struggle with the options available to them when a passed out white girl turns up on their living room floor. “Emergency” is fraught with contemporary tensions but immediately earns itself a level of grace by its willingness to resist turning its characters into speechifying tools for the creative team. The film’s awareness of how things can quickly go awry is distinct throughout, but “Emergency” manages to work as a film completely keyed into the young-adult humour of its principals while developing into a thoughtfully engaged comedy with these characters, these worlds and their experiences that’s about more than just the over social parable.
The central arc is the friendship between the more outgoing Sean (RJ Cyler) and his straitlaced best-friend Kunle (Donald Elise Watkins). “Emergency” uses these different versions of black manhood not as a cudgel to pound home its themes about being Black in America, but to thread a thoughtful and warm tale about friendship that feels earned and earnest throughout. A lot of that comes from Carey Williams’ direction, which, especially in early moments, creates a fabric of deadpan humour that will be sustained throughout. It also comes from Williams’ sharpness with his cast, giving each performer the space to perform these college-level antics in a film that doesn’t try to sacrifice its collegiate vibes for the message within it. Sebastian Chacon as the third member of the trio is giving an expert comedic performance on the fringes of the film that should signal a long career ahead of him.
It’s a welcome relief that whole “Emergency” moves along with an awareness of our expectations in a film like this, it wilily subverts the most obvious places in its climaxes. “Emergency” is fun, but also nerve-wracking in a way that some of the ostensible thrillers from Sundance this year feel unable to scale. The climax might be what you expect, but in its final scene “Emergency” reveals itself as something so much more interesting and thoughtful than some kind of banal riff on “showing the real world of racism in America”. A string of moments at the very end tease us with something prosaic until it opts to retain its sensibilities, announcing that it’s avoiding the kind of treacly, unsubtle entry that it very much could be. It’s a confidently rewarding entry in the college-buddy-comedy and will be a welcome arrival when it premieres for audiences later in the year.
“Fresh” has been slated for a digital release in March; “Emergency” will be released in May and “Master” and “Call Jane” are set for distribution later in 2022